Its been far too long since we last wrote anything about our regular meetups. As August tends to be a quite month due to people's holidays I thought the write up would be short and sweet. Instead we had a reasonable turnout, new faces, lots of beers in attendance and covered a few topics. Welcome New People We had Rob, Matthew and Rolan join us for the first time this month. Thanks for coming it was a pleasure to meet you all. We trust that you got something out of the meetup and enjoyed it. September Meetup - Will It...

Lazaretto IPA brewed by Simon won the Manchester Homebrew Expo 'Best In Show' competition as voted by the public. He's kindly shared some of his thoughts and experiences about the event and his win. In Simons's own words: The Homebrew Expo I thought the Manchester Homebrew Expo was a fantastic event, therefore I should start with some thanks. Firstly to Steve (Beer Nouveau) as our host for opening up his brewery and his all round support and enthusiasm. Secondly to the brewers, no event without beer right!! the range and quality of beer along with passion shown by their brewers...

Cosmetically Challenged brewed by Tom won the Manchester Homebrew Expo 'A Beer For Manchester' competition. He's kindly shared some of his thoughts and experiences refining the recipe. In Tom's own words: First off thanks for all the organisation, Steve for giving his time and giving the brewery over and the judges for forcing down free beer. It was a great afternoon and the feedback on 'A beer for Manchester' from the industry judges really useful and important. So a New England IPA as a beer for Manchester? Around Easter last year, I attended Aberdeen for a beer related event... One...

This years Manchester Beer Week sees the return of the highly successful Manchester Homebrew Expo. This event is a showcase of the best beer brewed by amateur brewers from across Manchester and the North West. The brewers will continue to dispel the myth that homebrewed beer is cheap and nasty by serving some of the best beers brewed in the region. It is taking place on Sunday 2nd July at Beer Nouveau Brewery Tap(75 North Western Street) from 12 noon until 6pm. The venue will be given over to homebrewers serving their beers from bottles, casks and kegs. There...

At the Easter social meeting we discussed an idea for a club brewing challenge based on an idea from American homebrew clubs. The basic concept is an unusual ingredient challenge and this is how it will probably work. Everyone who wants to be involved in the challenge buys an unusual ingredient to the 18th June meeting. These ingredients can be anything but need to be a) not a normal brewing ingredient, b) food safe, c) reasonable to brew with (ie. nothing that will kill yeast). The ingredients are allocated to brewers randomly and everyone brews a beer using the ingredient...